Kali makes her 'official' debut in the Devi-Mahatmya, where she is said to
have emanated from the brow of Goddess Durga (slayer of demons) during one
of the battles between the divine and anti-divine forces.

Kali is represented as a Black woman with four arms; in one hand she has a
sword, in another the head of the demon she has slain, with the other two
she is encouraging her worshippers. Her only clothing is a girdle made of dead
men's hands, and her tongue protrudes from her mouth.

Kali's fierce appearances have been the subject of extensive descriptions in
several earlier and modern works. Though her fierce form is filled with awe-
inspiring symbols, their real meaning is not what it first appears- they
have equivocal significance:

Kali's blackness symbolizes her all-embracing, comprehensive nature, because
black is the color in which all other colors merge; black absorbs and
dissolves them. 'Just as all colors disappear in black, so all names and
forms disappear in her' (Mahanirvana Tantra). Or black is said to represent
the total absence of color, again signifying the nature of Kali as ultimate
reality. This in Sanskrit is named as nirguna (beyond all quality and form).
Either way, Kali's black color symbolizes her transcendence of all form.

A devotee poet says:

"Is Kali, my Divine Mother, of a black complexion?
She appears black because She is viewed from a distance;
but when intimately known She is no longer so.
The sky appears blue at a distance, but look at it close by
and you will find that it has no colour.
The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance,
but when you go near and take it in your hand,
you find that it is colourless."

... Ramakrishna Paramhansa (1836-86)

Kali's nudity has a similar meaning. In many instances she is described as
garbed in space or sky clad. In her absolute, primordial nakedness she is
free from all covering of illusion. She is Nature (Prakriti in Sanskrit),
stripped of 'clothes'. It symbolizes that she is completely beyond name and
form, completely beyond the illusory effects of maya (false consciousness).
Her nudity is said to represent totally illumined consciousness, unaffected
by maya. Kali is the bright fire of truth, which cannot be hidden by the
clothes of ignorance. Such truth simply burns them away.

She is full-breasted; her motherhood is a ceaseless creation. Each skull of her garland of fifty human
skulls, represents one of the fifty letters of the Sanskrit alphabet. She wears a girdle of
severed human hands- hands that are the principal instruments of work and so
signify the action of karma. Thus the binding effects of this karma have
been overcome, severed, as it were, by devotion to Kali. She has blessed the
devotee by cutting him free from the cycle of karma. Her white teeth are
symbolic of purity (Sans. Sattva), and her lolling tongue which is red
dramatically depicts the fact that she consumes all things and denotes the
act of tasting or enjoying what society regards as forbidden, i.e. her
indiscriminate enjoyment of all the world's "flavors".

Kali's four arms represent the complete circle of creation and destruction,
which is contained within her. She represents the inherent creative and
destructive rhythms of the cosmos. Two of her hands, making the mudras of
"fear not" and conferring boons, represent the creative aspect of Kali,
while the other two hands, holding a bloodied sword and a severed head represent
her destructive aspect. The bloodied sword and severed head symbolize the
destruction of ignorance and the dawning of knowledge. The sword is the
sword of knowledge, that cuts the knots of ignorance and destroys false
consciousness (the severed head). Kali opens the gates of freedom with this
sword, having cut the eight bonds that bind human beings. Finally her three
eyes represent the sun, moon, and fire, with which she is able to observe
the three modes of time: past, present and future. This attribute is also
the origin of the name Kali, which is the feminine form of 'Kala', the
Sanskrit term for Time.

The image of a recumbent Shiva lying under the feet of Kali represents Shiva
as the passive potential of creation and Kali as his Shakti. The generic
term Shakti denotes the Universal feminine creative principle and the
energizing force behind all male divinity including Shiva. Shakti is known
by the general name Devi, from the root 'div', meaning to shine. She is the
Shining One, who is given different names in different places and in
different appearances, as the symbol of the life-giving powers of the
Universe. It is she that powers him. This Shakti is expressed as the i in
Shiva's name. Without this i, Shiva becomes Shva, which in Sanskrit means a
corpse. Thus suggesting that without his Shakti, Shiva is powerless or
inert.

Kali's boon is won when man confronts or accepts her and the realities she
dramatically conveys to him. The image of Kali, in a variety of ways,
teaches man that pain, sorrow, decay, death, and destruction are not to be
overcome or conquered by denying them or explaining them away. Pain and
sorrow are woven into the texture of man's life so thoroughly that to deny
them is ultimately futile. For man to realize the fullness of his being, for
man to exploit his potential as a human being, he must finally accept this
dimension of existence. Kali's boon is freedom, the freedom of the child to
revel in the moment, and it is won only after confrontation or acceptance of
death. To ignore death, to pretend that one is physically immortal, to
pretend that one's ego is the center of things, is to provoke Kali's mocking
laughter. To confront or accept death, on the contrary, is to realize a mode
of being that can delight and revel in the play of the gods. To accept one's
mortality is to be able to let go, to be able to sing, dance, and shout.
Kali is Mother to her devotees not because she protects them from the way
things really are but because she reveals to them their mortality and thus
releases them to act fully and freely, releases them from the incredible,
binding web of "adult" pretense, practicality, and rationality.

This is a pata painting. Pata is a Sanskrit derivation which literally
means canvas so pata-painting
means a scroll painting on canvas. The art of Pata Painting (or pata chitra)
is practiced by the artists of Orissa, a state on the Eastern Coast of
India.

The painter first chooses two pieces (generally tussar silk) of cloth and he
sticks the pieces together by means of a paste prepared from tamarind seeds.
They are then dried in the sun.

The tamarind paste is traditionally prepared as follows: The tamarind seeds
are first kept in water for two to three days. When the seeds swell and
become soft, these are ground with a pestle stone till the formation of a
jelly like substance. In an earthen pot some water is poured along with this
substance which is finally heated into a paste. The pieces of cloth thus
pasted into one become a Patti.The Patti may be of an area of a few square
meters. After the Patti is dried it is rolled up and from this roll, pieces
of pata are cut and utilised for individual paintings.

The colors are hand prepared by the artists from natural ingredients like
china-clay, soft clay(chalk), conch shell, red stone etc. The black color is
prepared from charcoal powder. For white, the artists use sea shells which
are available in plenty on the sea shores of Orissa, the home of pata
paintings. The sea-shells are powdered and the powder is kept mixed with
some water for two days.The mixture is stirred properly until it becomes
soft and milky. This milky liquid is then heated with the gum of Kaitha
fruit (Feromia Elephantum). The paste thus prepared is then dried in the sun
to form a solid substance.

Black color is prepared by holding an earthen plate over the smoke of a
burning wick. The soot thus collected at the bottom of the plate is
thickened to a black substance. This is mixed with the gum of Kaitha fruit
when used as black color in painting.

Green color typically is prepared from the juice of green leaves which is
boiled and gum is mixed in the same proportion.

The materials used by these artists are totally of an indigenous character.
To unite the colors they utilise wooden bowls made of dried coconut shells.
The coarse brush is prepared from the root of a local plant called keya.
Hairs of brushes are collected from a buffalo's neck, more fine brushes
require the hair of mouse. These brushed are fixed to wooden handles. They
are usually kept in the quivers made out of a hollow joint of a thick bamboo
tree. The brushes may also be sometimes stored in leather cases or in dried
pumpkin bowls.

It is truly said of these Pata paintings that " Strange is this world of
Pata paintings, a world in itself, where every article and ornament keeps
its unchanging shape, its place and importance, where every animal has its
own stylized features, every personality its unerring marks of
identification defined by the ancient texts, religious myths and local
tradition. It is a world of myths and gods, but still more it is a world of
folk imagination, the reflection of thinking and of the mental scope of
millions of Indian peasants, fishermen and craftsmen, their joys, their
hardships, binding faith and exacting beauty. So the paintings speak the
language of their creators, they give realistic expression, a clear symbol,
humorous details. They are familiar to the eye, close to the heart, bringing
joy and expressing life".

Indeed the immensity of life and the diversity of the divine come together
and stand in one in these Pata paintings.

Namaste,
This painting was delivered a little while ago. The entire package was soaking wet inside and out. But because of the extra special care you took to protect it, the painting itself is not damaged. It is beautiful, and I am very happy to have it. But all is well now, and I am relieved. Thank you!

Janice, USA

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Thank you once again for all your help that you provided.

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